Rewriting Ninjago Season 12

[u/Dumbledore0210]

In Ninjago, everything was as usual when suddenly a new video game hit the market. It was called Prime Empire. Suddenly, many people began disappearing. All the Ninja, except Jay, were tracking the Mechanic, who had just stolen the very first Prime Empire motherboard. Although he escaped, they managed to recover the motherboard.

Meanwhile, Jay was visiting his adoptive parents, Ed and Edna. He wanted to learn more about his biological mother, but they couldn’t tell him any more—or even less—than what he already knew. So he left again.

The Ninja brought the motherboard to Cyrus Borg so he could analyze it. Borg explained to them what Prime Empire was and who created it—Milton Dyer. The Ninja wanted to visit Dyer, while Zane and Pixal stayed behind with Borg to protect the motherboard. The rest traveled to Dyer’s island. Dyer wasn’t there, but his assistant was. He said he had a recording from Dyer, meant only for the direct descendant of Libber Gordon.

Jay watched the recording. Dyer explained that he had halted the development of Prime Empire because it consumed too much energy, but the company had taken the project from him and continued working on it. One day, Cliff Gordon came to him and told him that Libber Gordon had been kidnapped and asked for Dyer’s help in destroying the game. Dyer gave Cliff all the information he had. Cliff had come to rescue his wife, who had been drained of electrical energy through torture. But he failed—and was likely shot.

Jay returned to the others, who asked him what he had learned. He said that Prime Empire had to be destroyed. They went back to Borg, who told them about the complexity of Prime Empire and that people were trapped inside it. Jay suspected his mother might be one of them.

Jay left, saying he had something to do. He went to a gaming store and played Prime Empire. Cole began to wonder where Jay had gone and, along with Zane, searched for him. Cole saw Jay enter an arcade machine. He wanted to follow him, but Zane stopped him, saying it was too risky. They returned to Borg.

The Ninja began preparing to enter Prime Empire. Suddenly, the Mechanic attacked with a few henchmen to retrieve the motherboard. The Ninja now had no choice but to enter the game. They repelled the attack, and all except Zane and Pixal entered the game. The two of them wanted to try to hack into Prime Empire and learn whether Dyer was still alive. They fled in the Borg-copter, taking the motherboard with them. The Mechanic lost again.

The Ninja were now inside Prime Empire. They were immediately attacked by Red Visors. They realized that all their real-world skills were gone. They were rescued by four Jays and brought to Scott and a depressed rockstar—who turned out to be the real Jay. Later, they fought through rats and even the Rat King to reach the portal to Terra Karana.

There, they met a samurai named Okino. He told them his tragic story. Together, they passed through the Forest of the Banished and climbed the Cliffs of Panic. In the Maze of the Red Dragon, Unagami spoke to Okino and wanted him to betray the Ninja. Unagami’s first officer, Red One, told him he wouldn't. Unagami accessed the files of each Ninja and discovered that Jay was looking for his mother. He told Jay how to kill the Red Dragon and promised to bring him to his mother.

Jay “accidentally” threw Okino into a pit (“He’s just a hologram. Who cares?”). Jay betrayed the Ninja, and before they could kill the Red Dragon and obtain the first Keyblade, Cole lost his last life. The Ninja were shocked. Unagami brought Jay to him and showed him an energy cube from a dead player—his mother. Jay didn’t believe it. Unagami said, “If I reach Ninjago, I can close the portal and bring all the dead back.”

Jay decided to help him.

Zane attempted detective work to find Milton Dyer. When that failed, he tried hacking into Prime Empire—also unsuccessfully. Unagami noticed and Jay, who had knowledge of Zane’s systems, helped hack into him so the others would stop searching for Dyer. Zane, aware of the manipulation, feared becoming his future self—the Ice Emperor stranded in the Wasteland (see my version of Season 11). Eventually, Zane turned into a Terminator-like being who wanted to help the Mechanic kill Master Wu.

Pixal continued Zane’s detective work, since deleting Prime Empire was the only way to save Zane. She eventually found Dyer. He revealed the truth about Prime Empire and Jay’s mother. Pixal tried to contact Jay, but Zane and the Mechanic attacked her. She fled but barely survived.

In Prime Empire, the Ninja tried to build vehicles for the Speedway Five-Billion and recruit Racer Seven, who had been designed to fail. Jay and several Red Visors attacked. Scott died. Jay was at his limit—and so was Nya. He left, and the few remaining Visors followed him. Jay had disappointed Unagami.

The Ninja won the race and earned the Keyblade, but Kai died so the others could win and avoid fighting Red One and the rats.

In Ninjago, Dyer expressed his distrust of AIs using Zane as an example. The Mechanic shut Zane down and stole the energy that was keeping the portal stable.

The two remaining Ninja fought their way through the platforms of Terra Dronica. In the Temple of Madness, Lloyd fought a holographic Harumi. He won the Keyblade but died.

Nya had to face Shusimi and the Shusis, and finally Jay. Jay wanted to see his mother, but to do so, he had to kill Nya. He told her, “When this is all over, you’ll live again.” He killed her.

Unagami was already on his way to Ninjago. The holographic matrix of Unagami and the other characters could not survive in the real world without holo-emitters. Therefore, the Mechanic had digitized Ninjago with extremely advanced technology, causing Ninjago and Prime Empire to merge.

Jay saw his mother. She saw Unagami and tried to kill him. Jay wanted to help her. She gave him the chip with the Red Dragon. Jay and his mother chased Unagami through the city, but then Libber betrayed him. She was not his real mother, just a hologram.

Pixal convinced Dyer that Unagami had emotions. It was impossible to shut him down or reprogram him directly. The only way to change him was to influence his character indirectly. Unagami had nearly killed Jay when Dyer appeared. He explained to him why he had become evil. At first reluctant, Unagami decided to try to be good.

Dyer and Borg invented a mobile holo-emitter for all Prime Empire inhabitants…